A World Bank report released this week shows that India is ahead of Pakistan in terms of adult female literacy and life expectancy.
According to The Dawn, the World Bank report titled “Poverty and Shared Prosperity” shows that India is better placed than Pakistan in life expectancy, which was 68 years in India and 66.1 years in Pakistan in 2014.
India has an edge in life expectancy for women too, 69.49 years versus 67.15 years for Pakistan.
The report also shows that India has a clear edge in adult female literacy as well. In 2011, while the adult female literacy rate stood at 59.2pc in India, it was 41.9pc for Pakistan.
The report further says that infant mortality in India declined from 46.3 per 1000 live births in 2010 to 37.9 in 2015, while for Pakistan the comparable figures are 73.5 in 2010 and 65.8 in 2015.
The report has some good news for Pakistan as well. The World Bank report puts Pakistan among the countries where incomes of the poorest are growing faster than national average.
The poorest in Pakistan are slightly ahead of the 4 per cent national growth rate while China tops the list with a more than 8 per cent growth rate.
India, on the other hand, lands among the countries where incomes of the poorest are growing slower than national average, although it has one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
The World Bank data also shows that as many as 21.25pc Indians live at or below the World Bank’s poverty line of $1.90 a day compared to 8.3pc in Pakistan.
The data also adds that 58pc Indians make $3.10 a day, compared to 45pc in Pakistan.
